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Recent studies of political behavior in the United States have stressed the growing importance of cultural values and social issues as determinants vote choice and party identification. The emergence of a new line of cleavage is indicative of realignment, however realignment scholarship suggests that change will first be evident at the presidential level before filtering down to political offices at the subpresidential level. This paper examines whether cultural and social issues have come to structure vote choice in U.S. House elections in the same way that many scholars argue that they have in presidential elections. The paper is also concerned as to whether cultural issues condition the impact of party identification on U.S. House vote choice, that are moral and cultural “traditional” Democrats and “tolerant” Republicans more likely to defect and vote for the other party. Overall, it is hoped that this study will enhance our understanding of social and cultural issues on vote choice as well as more generally illuminating recent partisan changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the structure underlying the vote in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Specifically, the paper utilizes correlation and factor analysis to discern the extent to which the state-by-state structure of the vote in 2008 was similar to that of prior elections. Additionally, the paper identifies states that the 2008 election may indicate to be undergoing a realignment. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the changing voting behavior and party identification of secular voters in the United States using data from the American National Election Studies. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]